North East charity welcomes home testing cervical cancer kit rollout
It is hoped the home testing kits will offer women more lifesaving checks to prevent cervical cancer
A North East cancer support charity hopes the rollout of cervical cancer home testing kits will help boost the numbers of women getting checked.
The tests, which can be performed at home, look for the human papillomavirus (HPV) - the virus which is linked to the majority of cases of cervical cancer.
After getting the nod from the UK National Screening Committee in March, the NHS in England is going to offer the tests to certain women.
It is expected that the rollout will begin in January next year.
Joanne Smith, Chief Executive of Fighting All Cancers Together, said: "I'm sure things wouldn’t sent out unless they were confident that it was going to have a positive impact.
"Just like lots of other home testing now, you know for bowel cancer and things like that, it's good if it can be extended to other cancers.
"Women are notorious for putting it to the bottom of the list of priorities and they do everything else.
"If it helps any of those women get the tests, the results and any cancers identified earlier then that has to be encouraged and welcomed.
"We all know that with all cancers, the sooner they're diagnosed, the better the outcome for people.
"I think any test that identifies a cancer has the potential to be life saving for somebody somewhere.
"Having options means that more people will take up a test.
"The more options we have, the more people we're going to reach and the more that we can either rule out things or catch things sooner."
The NHS offers cervical screening tests - previously known as smear tests - to all women aged 25-64 every three years.
But many people do not take up the offer, with a number citing a lack of time, discomfort or embarrassment.
Data published by the NHS last November showed five million women are not up to date with routine check-ups.
Now officials have said that at-home kits will be offered to women who have rarely or have never attended their cervical screening.